How do I give up diet coke??

24

Replies

  • decdav
    decdav Posts: 41 Member
    I was drinking 6+ cans a day during the week, more on the weekends. Don’t stop cold turkey unless you really like headaches (caffeine withdrawal). I went to 4 cans for a couple of months and then slowly weaned myself off that. I’ll now have 2-3 cans a week. I’ll consider myself off when I don’t even have that (like when I run out at home, I still have about 30-40 cans).

    There are many reasons to kick the diet drinks and everything I’ve read says kicking the habit will help you lose weight.
  • foug11
    foug11 Posts: 1 Member
    Watch "Hungry for Change." It's a documentary about the American diet & food industry. They talk a lot about how bad diet soda is for you - and how bad aspartame is for your body.

    I drank diet soda for 20+ years! After watching "Hungry for Change" I quit drinking it as much. The movie really explained how drinking diet soda, though zero calories, contributes to weight gain. Also, it explained some of the negative effects the combination of aspartame and caffeine have on your body/brain. I quit buying 2 litters for home but I do occasionally buy a diet soda at the gas station and drink it while driving. Prior to watching the show, I was drinking a 2 litter a day!

    According to the show, diet soda causes you to crave sweets.
  • Adirafox
    Adirafox Posts: 107 Member
    It took me a while to be able to give up Coke Zero, even knowing how bad diet soda is. I just had to keep reading articles about what it does to the body, and one day it clicked.

    http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/10/diet-soda-may-do-more-harm-than-good/

    http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=24552939

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/11/200488420/do-diet-drinks-mess-up-metabolisms

    Here are a few for thought.
  • bluesky248
    bluesky248 Posts: 18 Member
    I drank diet pepsi first and then diet coke since I was 16..I never drank coffee so first thing in the a.m. diet coke, I drank about 12 a day on average depending how busy I was at work! I finally quit drinking ALL diet pop 2 years ago this February, I had quit smoking the year before and that was my crutch diet coke with a ciggy. well, anyway, I decided I had enough so I tried to cut down first slowly, went to 6 a day and then cold turkey....OMG!! I had a horrible headache for 2 days but I didn't give in! it was hard not walking around with a diet coke in hand but I figured I gave up ciggys this should be easy...it isn't! Finally after 2 days of a blinding headache, things got better and now I only have a diet pop on legal holidays lol. No caffeine though.
    my advice from a diet coke/pepsi drinker for 20 years...
    wean yourself down slowly, your body gets addicted to this crap. I should have got down to about 1 a day before quitting but that's my advice but man YOU FEEL SO MUCH BETTER without it and I have saved a heap between ciggys and diet coke! I lost those annoying bags under my eyes too as a bonus from the diet coke. good luck and go at it slow but you will FEEL BETTER! :)
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    I usually allow myself to have 1-2 diet cokes for lunch. The rest of the day I usually drink water. On a rare occasion I'll have it with dinner if we're out. I just widdled down to it. (I used to have about 6-8 cans/day.)
  • MacroMiranda
    MacroMiranda Posts: 78 Member
    You quitters are a great inspiration! I've been wanting to quit drinking Diet Coke/Pepsi for a while now, but have been so afraid of the dreaded caffeine headaches. Many of you drank more soda than I currently do, and everyone seems to be saying that the headaches go away after a few days. Now I have no excuse, time to stop.
  • MissJanet55
    MissJanet55 Posts: 457 Member
    I have really struggled with this on and off for years. Two things have helped.

    1. I figured out how much money I spend on diet coke every day - usually $4. So if I only spend $2, I put the other $2 in a jar. If I don't spend anything I put $4 in the jar. After a year, I have just short of $800, and this year I am aiming for $1200. I knew I was spending a lot of money, but seeing it in the jar is really motivating. Once a month I deposit it into my savings account.

    2. I switched over to soda water with a little bit of blueberry juice and a wedge of lime. It has the same burn as diet coke and is really refreshing. It's a good substitute.

    On days I wake up tired - too many - all bets are off, I need the caffeine. So it's a work in process, but these things have worked well for me. I can't do cold turkey, because having just one is a slippery slope and I'll inevitably have one after a few weeks, so slow and gradual has been better.

    Good luck.
  • fervc
    fervc Posts: 19
    I'm a diet pepsi addict. About 2 weeks ago I switched to green tea. It takes a little getting used to, considering I don't like tea, but I found a brand that I'm getting used to.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Why do you want to give it up? If it's diet it isn't going to help your weight loss and if you are used to the caffeine and you want to quit then you probably want to wean off or go through a couple days of banging headaches.

    because those artificial sweeteners in diet soda are death in a can, that's why!

    :laugh:
  • orangebuttercat
    orangebuttercat Posts: 143 Member
    1. Drink a Diet Coke
    2. Want to die, because it tastes awful
    3. Drink Regular Coke
  • CycleGuy9000
    CycleGuy9000 Posts: 290
    You just stop and drink water instead.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    stop drinking it.

    I don't see what the issue is.
  • CycleGuy9000
    CycleGuy9000 Posts: 290
    Ok-here is some help... check out what Diet Coke does to your teeth! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/28/diet-soda-teeth-similar-to-meth-photos_n_3348158.html

    Wow. A 3 person study. I'm sure lack of dental hygiene was not a factor.

    I love how the news likes to skew study results in their favor and most of them try not to tell you how large the pool was that the study was done on, shameful.
  • gpizzy
    gpizzy Posts: 171
    I didn't read everyone's comments...best way to give it up I'd say is to read how it is EXTREMELY bad for you. If that's not enough to give it up, eek! Literally it is killing you from the inside out.
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
    To start with, stop buying it.

    Coke eats corrosion off batteries & scum out of toilets. Imagine what that does to your teeth.
    This


    is incorrect.
    http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp
  • CollegiateGrief
    CollegiateGrief Posts: 552 Member
    I started realizing that the headaches I was getting every day were in fact not from sleeping too little, but from Diet Coke. I tried not drinking it for a few days, and no headaches! That did it for me.
  • JonfromIndiana
    JonfromIndiana Posts: 34 Member
    I stopped cold turkey in 2012. It was the first thing I did at the start of my weight-loss journey. I drink water and un-sweetened ice tea. You will see a huge reward over time if you do quit it.
  • bubblygoldfish
    bubblygoldfish Posts: 215 Member
    Cold turkey was really effective for me. I cannot drink diet coke anymore. However, i went through horrible caffeine withdrawls: headaches, fatigue, and irritability. And it lasted an entire week. Totally brutal. I would reccomend following the easing-off advice that other MFP-ers are reccomending. The withdrawls really suck.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    Nevermind. Not worth it.
  • syk48
    syk48 Posts: 16
    I have the same problem . I drank a lot more than that but I'm down to drinking 1large from Mcdonalds a day. I'm still working on I I it and since I stopped drinking so much my blood pressure has gone way down.
  • chadderack
    chadderack Posts: 18
    To start with, stop buying it.

    Coke eats corrosion off batteries & scum out of toilets. Imagine what that does to your teeth.
    This


    is incorrect.
    http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp

    Agreed. A lot of folk wisdom in this thread.
  • amandzor
    amandzor Posts: 386 Member
    Step 1: Remove can from mouth.

    Step 2: Pry fingers from can.

    Step 3: Throw the can away.

    Step 4: Win.
  • notsofatroxy55
    notsofatroxy55 Posts: 15 Member
    JUST DO IT! I did it I use to drink at least 2 or three diet cokes a day, I exchanged it for sparkling waters and iced green tea. You can do it if you really want to. Its not good for you at all.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    1. Don't buy it.
    2. Don't open the can/bottle.
    3. Don't put it to your lips.
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
    The way I got myself off of regular soda (I never drank diet soda, tastes awful to me) was I switched to homemade sweet tea. Then with each batch I gradually decreased the amount of sugar I added until I was drinking unsweetened. Then I hopped over to water because it's free in restaurants and I'm a cheapskate.
  • purplemoonmyst
    purplemoonmyst Posts: 5 Member
    I went cold turkey. I drank a gallon of diet coke a day then I started on the whole30 and gave it up. It took a couple of weeks to get over withdrawal symptoms.
  • lmarbley
    lmarbley Posts: 16 Member
    I did...cold turkey.
  • lcyama
    lcyama Posts: 209 Member
    I've done it twice (with diet pepsi).

    The first time was because I wanted to be caffeine-free during pregnancy. I couldn't go cold turkey because I'd get horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches. I used to have a DP first thing in the morning, another with lunch, and one later in the day. The first day I skipped my morning DP, and went as long as I could until the headache set in, and then I'd have one (mid-morning.) The second day i made it till noon. Eventually, I didn't need the caffeine at all. I would still occasionally have a caffeine-free DP, just to treat myself to the taste.

    Ten years later, I had built back up to at least one DP every day. This time, I went cold turkey but drank tea (usually green tea) to get through the caffeine withdrawals. I will still have a DP every once in a while, but I consider it a special treat, and usually drink only water with my meals.
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
    A lot of people are suggesting cold turkey and health-wise, that's probably the best way. However, it might be painful to have caffeine withdrawal, so maybe gradually would work better for you. Or have some advil/exedrin/tylenol available in case of headache. I gave up caffeine when I was pregnant, and prepared for it by tapering back on coffee to avoid the caffeine withdrawal headache.
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,569 Member
    I used to drink a six pack a day. Don't bring it in the house, and give it up cold turkey. I drank iced tea and sparkling water. You can do it!

    Good luck. :drinker:

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